Citing perceived injustices and marginalisation against them, Ijaw oil and
gas producing communities in Delta State, have rejected the 2016 budget
for the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC,
already passed and signed into law.
Bishop Samson Amajene, President, Gbaramatu Kingdom, with four other
leaders in Ijaw kingdoms, urged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to review the
budget and ensure that the ‘’imbalance and injustice,’’ were redressed, as
these violate the law setting up the commission.
Prior to the passage of the DESOPADEC budget, they had warned Governor
Okowa that the Commission’s Chairman and Managing Director, who are
Itsekiri and Urhobo respectively, have allocated more projects to their
ethnic nationalities to the detriment of Ijaw oil communities.
“Sadly, instead of addressing the lopsidedness against the Ijaw which
produces 27 percent of oil and gas resources in the state, Governor Okowa
kept a disturbing silence, allowing the these elements in the commission
and House of Assembly to carry out this marginalisation unhindered’’, they
said.
Reviewing the budget comparatively, they described as incredulous that out
of 73 new centralized projects of over N4,004,103,844, only two projects
were allocated to Ijaw areas, while 40 projects of N2,141,846,725 went to
Urhobo areas and Ndokwa got N18,000 at N620,000,000.
“Similarly, Urhobo alone was allocated N2.048 billion as personnel cost,
whereas the Ijaws (second largest producers in Delta) received a paltry
N577m. Urhobo further has over N2.354 bn budget for capital projects,
indicating that salaries have reverted to first-line charge, as against
payment from the various ethnic nationalities’ accounts.”
They accused the state government of marginalizing the Ijaw communities in
the scheme of things, especially DESOPADEC, State Tenders Board and the
Ministry of Works, adding that the situation calls for review and overhaul
of the overall 2016 Delta State budget.